


Tam

by koalathebear



Category: Miss Saigon - Schönberg/Boublil/Maltby
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-06
Updated: 2015-02-06
Packaged: 2018-03-10 18:51:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3300032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalathebear/pseuds/koalathebear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just a little piece speculating about how things might have gone for Tam.  I've <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/children-of-the-vietnam-war-131207347/?all">read a lot of sad stories about the children of Vietnamese women and American GIs</a> but I like to think that Chris and Ellen tried to give Tam a good life - and loved him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tam

  
  


_This is the hour, I swore I'd see  
I alone can tell now, what the end will be_

He wonders if she foresaw this. Could a young, uneducated girl from rural Vietnam have ever known that _this_ would be possible?

Tam sits in the audience with his classmates. Glancing across the aisle, he sees Chris and Ellen beaming at him proudly. Ellen's finally put the damned camera away even though he knows it will be out as soon as his name's called out.

Gemma's sitting next to them and she gives him a thumbs up, looking extremely excited despite the length of the ceremony.

_They think they'll decide your life – no.  
It will be me_

They've never tried to hide his past from him. He knows that Chris was a soldier in Vietnam, that his mother had fallen pregnant and had escaped from Vietnam to Thailand. It's not been necessary for them to fill in the gaps for him – he's smart and knows full well that he's the son of a prostitute and a GI.

_Look at me one last time_  
Don't forget what you see  
One more kiss and then say goodbye … 

He remembers nothing of her. He knows that his blended features and heritage are the result of a wartime 'romance'. He has no photographs of his biological mother. Chris has told him that sometimes he resembles her – his smile, the shape of his mouth. Given the similarity of his features with Gemma, he knows what he's inherited from Chris – his nose, his eyes, the curl in his hair … 

Then there's Ellen. From her, he has learned love, compassion and acceptance. He knows it can't have been easy to raise the child of her husband's former lover. Growing up there have been times when he's seen the way her eyes have searched his face, searching for glimpses of the girl Kim looking out from behind his dark eyes. 

Nonetheless, she has loved him. She has been his mother, comforted him during his nightmares, kissed him when he was afraid and raised him like he was her own. Despite the curious questions from outsiders, she has never treated him differently to Gemma – Tam is as much her child as her biological daughter is.

Tam and Gemma both learned of Kim's life – and her death – at the same time. There was no attempt to hide the truth. Ellen did most of the talking, Chris' dark blue eyes were distant and sad, remembering a time and a place so far removed from where they were that it's hard to even imagine. Even after all this time, the memory is clearly too painful for the former GI.

"She killed herself?" Gemma had demanded, tears in her eyes. Tam had been dry-eyed, expressionless and stoic. When they go to Thailand to visit Kim's grave, Gemma's the one crying and putting flowers on the tombstone and commenting on how young Kim was when she died. In contrast, Tam had just stood there staring at the grave, keenly aware that there's nothing left of the girl who was Kim except whatever remains might lie in the coffin in the ground beneath his feet.

Ellen and Gemma leave Chris and Tam along at the grave and Tam voices what he has just been thinking.

"No, son," Chris disagrees, his voice low and filled with pain. "There's more left of Kim than that …." He stares into his son's face. "She's here," he tells him, touching his own heart. "She's in my memories …and she's here," he tells him, touching Tam's face before pulling him into an awkward hug.


End file.
